22 April (Part 1) - If I had a suspicious mind…
A quick count up says that in the 35 years I have lived in Bexley I had until yesterday
eaten in only seven of its pubs and restaurants, which includes two Wetherspoons for breakfast.
An average rate that probably doesn’t reach once a year. As I have said
before, Bexley businesses do not get very much money out of me.
Yesterday a kind friend insisted on paying to make the pub number up to eight. Not
sure what I did to deserve that but thanks anyway.
We went to a place I must have sailed by a few thousand times on my journeys to
and from Knee Hill and beyond and it reminded me of Ye Olde Leather Bottle; another pub I ate in once never to return.
Have you seen what remains of The Leather Bottle recently? Demolished very nearly seven years
ago and some said without prior notice to Bexley Council. Certainly without
the knowledge of nearby residents who complained but were ignored.
There was something very odd about the whole affair.
Bexley Council can be useless but The Bottle took things to a whole new level.
Photographs taken at dawn this morning.
While I was taking
photos at The Bottle in June 2016 I was pushed around by the bearded folk
working there and on the receiving end of threats of the we know where you live variety accompanied by political name
dropping. How did they know so much about me?
When the demolition work reached an obviously dangerous stage with no protection
for passers-by Bexley council took no action. When local Councillor Daniel
Francis (Labour) persuaded the Health & Safety Executive to take an interest Bexley
Council initially, and for all I know for longer, refused their
co-operation.
The same developer
moved on to Woolwich Road where he built a massive concrete bunker without
planning permission. Bexley’s surveyor said it encroached a little on Lesnes
Abbey Woods. It was so horrendous that the couple who lived next door had to move out.
Against all expectations, and one might say commonsense and justice,
Bexley Council, after a limp show of resistance, granted retrospective planning permission.
In possession of a suspicious mind when it comes to Bexley Council I asked the
couple driven out of their home if in all their dealings with both the Council and the man who wrecked
their lives there had ever been the slightest suggestion that there might be a
link between the two parties but whilst harbouring the same suspicions as me they had
drawn a total blank.
Everyone is as pure as the driven snow as far as anyone knows but for possession of a suspicious mind I was later
chased from Woolwich Road to
Abbey Wood and back to Belvedere by a man who I believed to be part of the developer’s family until I was rescued by the
police. Perhaps Bexley Council is frightened of beards too. One day we may stumble
across the truth.